Abstract

bjective: To evaluate the frequency of precore/core mutation in patients with chronic hepatitis B using PCR-restricted fragment length polymorphisms method. Methods: Sera were obtained from 69 patients with chronic hepatitis B including 30 women (43.5%) and 39 men (56.5%). All patients were tested for the serum alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, the presence of hepatitis Be antigen and hepatitis B surface antigen by electrochemiluminescence and hepatitis B virus DNA load. Precore/core mutation was examined for the presence of a characteristic point mutation at nucleotides A1896G in precore and A1762T and G1764A in core region using nested PCR and restricted fragment length polymorphisms methods. Results: From total 69 cases with chronic hepatitis B infection, 12 (17.3%) patients had precore mutation and 10 (14.4%) patients had core mutation. From 69 patients, 53 (76.8%) were negative for hepatitis Be antigen and 61 (88.4%) were positive for hepatitis B surface antigen by electrochemiluminescence method. All samples were positive for hepatitis B virus DNA by RT-PCR. Conclusions: This study suggests that extra molecular methods should be apply for diagnosis and monitoring of mutation in chronic hepatitis B patients synchronic or serological method.

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